Answer:
Anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibited interracial marriage, were enacted by many states in the US. While it is widely known that many southern states had such laws, it is less widely known that many western states, such as California, also had laws prohibiting interracial marriage until as late as 1948. The reasons for the existence of these laws varied from state to state and were influenced by a variety of social, economic, and political factors. Some historians argue that these laws were a response to the socio-economic dynamics of the plantation system in the Southern colonies, while others suggest that they were a manifestation of white supremacist attitudes that sought to legislate racial purity. Fear of interracial marriage was also used as an argument to support racial segregation during the Jim Crow Era.